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8.01.2003
Hey, You There with the Camera? The Independent Weekly: Counter intelligence: "In Atlanta, a retired attorney of impeccable reputation was arrested for trying to take photos of some storage tanks. An amateur art photographer, he admired the patterns of light and shadow." As an amateur photographer myself I know that in the back of my mind every time I go around taking pictures is the constant worry that I will get harrassed. After the September 11th terrorist attacks the gumption of the police has risen. Before there was a slight chance that I would get harrassed for taking pictures in strange places (after all thats what makes the pictures interesting right?). Now I can almost bank on it. A few years ago a friend and I were taking pictures out behind a strip mall. There was a demolished lot where a bank had been torn down but the signs still remained. Thinking this a interesting piece of irony we whipped out our cameras and began to walk around the outer edges of the site taking a few shots of the small signs still standing amidst the dirt and rubble. Of particular curiosity was the sign with an arrow stating "drive thru" pointing out into the ruined lot. A few minutes go by and a police car pulled up and stopped. He informed us that someone in the neighborhood had seen some suspicious activity and called the cops. He asked to see our ID's which we showed to him and he asked us what we were doing. We informed him that we were just taking a few pictures of the demolished bank and the signs that were still standing. I tried to point out the curiosity of the remaining signs. He only seemed confused by our actions. He asked us a few more times what we thought was so interesting about the demolished bank. We told him again but in the end he just decided that we didnt look dangerous, only weird. And pre-sept 11 being weird was not an arrestable offense. No sooner than he police moved away than we heard a voice from one of the adjacent yards. "Hey, the fuzz giving you some trouble?!" I remember distinctly that the man used the word "fuzz" as it conjured up images of Ponch and John from CHiPs. He stood there in his backyard with his garden hose spewing water and told us that he would vouch for us being safe, that the "fuzz" just couldnt stand people acting in ways they didn't think was normal and they should just leave people alone. I made the joke that we confused him by being young people that were actually doing something constructive. That when we turned out to be bright young articulate people that was engaging in some creative pursuits he didnt know how to respond. My favorite joke for the next week was an impression of the confused cop: "Ok... let me get this straight... No drugs? No weapons? No paint cans? ok...wait a second! let's start over... " (confused look) My post Sept 11th story takes us to Texas, a little town on the edge of Fort Worth, small place, just people living and working, a Braums, a couple of Burger Joints and few good thrift stores. In all not a bad place to hang out. While a friend was visiting with some relatives I decided to get out my camera and walk around a bit. I had previously scoped out a few nice places that I wanted to get a closer look at. I slung my camera over my shoulder in full view and I walked over to a nearby church that had a nice patterned metal grill disguising some outside stairs. I took a few shots of the front of the church, the metal grill and a few details. I never take pictures of people's houses or property, mostly just relatively public places like the backsides of businesses and other architecture. I say this because as I was walking back through the neighborhood to the house a small truck comes up besides me and stops. Its a police vehicle and the officer wants a word with me. I show him my ID and explain why I'm visiting from Dallas. He lets me know that someone had reported seeing a suspicious person taking pictures of people's houses. I had seen the person peeking out of the curtains earlier. The officer is nice, lets me know that he's just doing his job, watching out for the people here, and apologizes for stopping me. He explains that some people can get paranoid when they see people out wandering around acting strange. He was very nice and I was relieved that I wasn't subjected the the petty power tripping that is sometimes possible when your stopped from questioning. Thankfully I've not been arrested, but I'm more careful now about where I go to take pictures. Which is a shame because one of the great things about being in America is the vibrant curiosity that can only be found in a society where people are not intimidated into inaction. I can only hope that as time passes we will one again return to where we used to be. But that normalcy will be far into the future as long as politicians keep using the terrorism scare to win votes. Sometimes I think the terrorists got what they wanted and they are being helped along by our own elected officials. Hold on... there's someone at the door. ;-) | |
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